Functional localization in the cerebellum

In this paper we review the basic anatomy and functional localization in the cerebellum. Experimental anatomical studies emphasize the predominance of skeletomotor and visuomotor connections. Parietal lobe visual inputs arise principally from the dorsal stream extrastriate visual areas, which are specialized for the visual control of movement. There are few or no inputs to the cerebellum from inferotemporal cortex. Much of the input from prefrontal cortex is from areas that control eye movements. Comparative anatomical studies of the hominoid dentate nucleus are consistent with the role of much of the cerebellar hemispheres in the visual guidance of movement. Although some mossy and climbing fibre afferents to the cerebellum are reciprocally organized, feeding back onto their original source, the reciprocity does not exist for the visuomotor division. The dorsal paraflocculus receives its mossy fibres from extrastriate areas of the dorsal visual stream, and projects to the frontal eye fields. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies in human subjects confirm the presence of somatotopically organized anterior and posterior skeletomotor areas with eye movement activity centred in the oculomotor vermis. Oculomotor and skeletomotor representation extend into adjacent Crus I and II. Discrepancies between the results of imaging studies in human subjects and experimental data are discussed. Skeletomotor activity or eye movements may contaminate many fMRI studies of putative cognitive functions of the cerebellum.

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